’32 Cabriolet a lifetime love affair

Although he already had a ’32 Chevy two-door sedan in the works at the time, Ray Abrahams instantly fell in love with a much sportier 1932 Chevrolet the moment he laid eyes on it.

Ray and Sylvia Abrahams with their beautifully restored 1932 Chevy Cabriolet, a car that they have owned for more than a half century. The car carried a $610 price tag when new. It's worth a little more than that now.
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A second restoration of the cabriolet began in 2011, when Lowell Heinrichs of Hillsboro was enlisted to repaint the entire car. Sylvia Abrahams said she and husband Ray enjoyed taking the car for weekend drives around a local reservoir.
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With the top up, twin fender-mounted spares and bumper-mounted fog lights, the Fisher Red '32 Deluxe Cabriolet cuts an especially stunning figure for a car built during the Great Depression.
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Ray and Sylvia Abrahams
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Paul Matz did the leatherette upholstery during the first restoration, way back in 1964. It was in such beautiful condition that no further interior work was needed for the latest restoration.
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The final finish touch to the overall package was completed a few weeks ago, when the cabriolet was trailered to Tulsa, where master pinstriper Ron Myers highlighted the black body lines with yellow-gold stripes.
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Producing an adequate 26.3 horsepower, the little Chevy's inline 6-cylinder engine displaces 194 cubic inches. It was a remarkably modern engine for its time with an overhead valve head design.
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Ray Abrahams painstakingly soaked all the paint off the chrome spoke covers on the wire wheels during the 1964 restoration of the car. The spoke covers actually snap off the wheels, which made the chore a little more tolerable.
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The radiator cap/hood ornament features a bold eagle in full flight.
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Sylvia Abrahams says the leatherette-covered rumble seat was probably the most popular feature of the car among grandchildren, who loved going for a ride in it.
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The folding canvas top, also done by the late Paul Matz, rests on three nickel-plated bars when retracted. Note the snaps along the lower edge of the window panel, which can be unfastened and resnapped to fittings inside the roof for flow-through airflow.
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A distinctive 3-spoke steering wheel with a full horn ring gave the Confederate cabriolet an extra dash of class.
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Door pockets provided a place for maps, while nickel-plated ash trays accomodated smokers along for a ride.
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A beautifully ornamented instrument panel combines all of the instruments and engine controls needed for a pleasant springtime drive in an understated package. Note the rolling drum speedometer.
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Equipped with a 3-speed manual transmission, the Chevy could also be shifted into 'Free Wheeling' mode on downhill roads, apparently to boost gas mileage, according to Ray Abrahams.
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A nifty accessory added to the Chevy was this rear view mirror, equipped with a built in clock, which is wound by pulling a string seen just below the clock face.
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The iconic chrome plated hood vents set the '32 Chevy off from other brands that came equipped with more conventional stamped steel hood louvers. The hood vents are adjustable, allowing the driver to control how much cooling air flows through the engine compartment.
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The Potter trunk still holds spare parts and car show necessities such as the hand-lettered display card.
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Ray Abrahams said the original Potter Mfg. Co. decal on the inside lid of the trunk had been painted over by the first owner. Using laquer thinner, he meticulously removed the black paint and preserved the decal.
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As a World War II veteran who served aboard the Navy destroyer the USS Chauncey as a radio operator, Ray Abrahams proudly displays what was known as a "Ruptured Duck" plaque, issued to sailors upon their discharge, on his beloved '32 Chevrolet cabriolet.
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Although he already had a ’32 Chevy two-door sedan in the works at the time, Ray Abrahams instantly fell in love with a much sportier 1932 Chevrolet the moment he laid eyes on it.

"The first time I saw it, it was sitting there and the couple that owned it were having a picnic in the park," he recalls. "I walked over and, man I couldn’t believe what I saw. I saw great potential in that thing."

The owner wasn’t ready to sell the car, but was open to discussing the possibility.

"He wanted to know what I wanted to do to it. If I wanted to hot rod it, he didn’t want to let me have it. But I told him I would restore it," Abrahams said.

"He was a cop at Galva … the original owner who bought it new," he said. Ray and his wife, Sylvia, put the car at the top of their wish list and left their names with the owners.

"We didn’t think we’d ever see it again," said Sylvia, who said they learned the owner had died. Then one day in 1962, they received a phone call indicating the car was still in the possession of the man’s wife and she wanted to know if they were still interested in it.

"Boy howdy, it didn’t take me long to get over there," Ray remembered. "I think I paid $400 for it."

But the car needed more than a little tender, loving care.

"He had driven it through a barbed wire fence," Ray said. "So he had painted it. He even painted the top. I think he painted it with a broom."

Ironically, says son Kim Abrahams, "We think he preserved it that way. There is no rust anywhere on the car."

Even the chrome spoke covers on the wire wheels were painted over, as was the Potter Mfg. Co. decal inside the lid of the old-time rear mounted trunk.

"I took some lacquer thinner and real carefully took the paint off that decal," Ray Abrahams said. He removed all 40 spoke covers from each of six wheels and patiently soaked them in paint thinner to restore their original luster.

The cabriolet features roll-down windows, as opposed to a roadster, which came equipped with side curtains. Designated by Chevrolet as a "Confederate" model, Abrahams’ cabriolet was an exceptionally well equipped Depression era car, with twin fender-mounted spare tires, a rumble seat, dual fender-mounted horns and twin tail lights, as well as the optional Potter trunk and rack, and a beautifully plated Eagle radiator cap.

New, it sold for the princely sum of $610.

Abrahams discovered the ’32 had been fitted with a 1940 engine. "I wanted it back to original, so I put the one that was in the other ’32 in it," he said. He had new babbitt bearings poured for the 194 cubic inch inline 6-cylinder power plant, which was line-bored and then carefully reassembled. "That’s why it runs so good now," he said.

Vern Winter restored the cabriolet to its original glory with a fresh Fisher Red factory paint job and contrasting black fenders. Paul Matz stitched up a beautiful leatherette interior, covering the rumble seat surfaces in the same material and creating a new top out of canvas for the car.

The restoration was finished in 1964 and as second owners, Ray and Sylvia Abrahams wasted no time enjoying their "new" car.

"We used to drive out to the reservoir on weekends in it. We drove two married couples away from their weddings in the rumble seat … and the grandkids loved riding back there. We even drove Miss Kansas in the fair parade here in Hillsboro," Sylvia recounted.

Nearly 50 years after it all began, though, the car wasn’t getting much use and sat most of the time in another son, Rex Abrahams’ car shed. The paint had begun to crack and it was apparent it was time for a second restoration.

Lowell Heinrichs of Hillsboro and his son, Romney Heinrichs of Hesston, were tasked with the job in October, 2011.

"They took every piece apart that they could," said Rex Abrahams. But the engine needed nothing and the interior and top looked like brand new, so they were just cleaned up and left as they were.

By the spring of 2012, the Abrahams’ ’32 Chevy was wearing fresh paint and needed only one thing to complete its comeback — the touch of a top-notch pinstriping artist. Rex and Kim Abrahams recently loaded the Chevy up and hauled it to Tulsa, where Ron Myers applied new yellow-gold pinstriping to accent all the gloss black body accents.

Ray and Sylvia Abrahams, now in their 80s, live in a retirement home in Hillsboro and have to rely on wheelchairs to get around, but absolutely light up when they get a chance to show off their beloved ’32 Chevy.

"A day like this, when I can be out here with my car … that’s good medication for me. It’s better than any pills I’m taking," grinned Ray.